Full public inquiry into Dealgan House needed ‘without further delay’

THe government must deliver a full public inquiry into the deaths of 22 people at Dealgan House Nursing Home in Dundalk ‘without further delay’, Louth TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has said as the third anniversary of the shocking tragedy approaches.

The Sinn Féin deputy said the easter weekend of April 11 and 12 2020, ‘when it became known at the highest levels of government and the HSe that a huge tragedy was unfolding in Dealgan continues to resonate with families who lost loved ones and the wider community in Dundalk’.

He said: ‘As we approach the third anniversary of these terrible deaths, i call again on the government to make good their promises, made nearly three years ago, to provide answers to the families of those who died in Dealgan House.

‘i have raised the need for a human rights-based public inquiry into Dealgan House with Taoiseach Leo varadkar a number of times since he made the announcement in January that the government was looking at reviewing the State’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

‘i, and other TDs in Louth, have asked time and time again for Dealgan to be specifically included in any inquiry or review because of the scale of the tragedy that unfolded and the fact that it remains the only pri-